Bowl barrow

Engraving of a bowl barrow by Richard Colt Hoare

Abowl barrowis a type ofburialmound ortumulus.A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms includecairn circle,cairn ring,howe,kerb cairn,tumpandrotunda grave.

Description

Section and plan of a generic bowl barrow

Bowl barrows were created from theNeolithicthrough to theBronze AgeinGreat Britain.A bowl barrow is an approximately hemispherical mound covering one or moreInhumationsorcremations.Where the mound is composed entirely of stone, rather than earth, the termcairnreplaces the word barrow. The mound may be simply a mass of earth or stone, or it may be structured by concentric rings of posts, low stone walls, or upright stone slabs. In addition, the mound may have akerbof stones or wooden posts.

Barrows were usually built in isolation in various situations on plains, valleys and hill slopes, although the most popular sites were those on hilltops. Bowl barrows were first identified inGreat BritainbyJohn Thurnam(1810–73), an Englishpsychiatrist,archaeologist,andethnologist.

British bowl barrows

A 15-metre diameter bowl barrow in the New Forest, U.K.

English Heritageproposed the following classification of British bowl barrows:

• Type 1:Kerbless and ditchless barrows
• Type 2:Kerbless with continuous ditch
• Type 3:Kerbless with penannular ditch
• Type 4:Kerbless with segmented ditch
• Type 5:Kerbed but ditchless
• Type 6:Kerbed with continuous ditch
• Type 7:Kerbed with pennanular ditch
• Type 8:Kerbed with segmented ditch
• Type 9:Structured but ditchless
• Type 10:Structured with continuous ditch
• Type 11:Structured with penannular ditch
• Type 12:Structured with segmented ditch

Tump

For the hill type, seeTump (hill).

Tump isWorcestershiredialectterm for a small hill, such as a barrow, even a large barrow such as the Whittington Tump in the village ofWhittingtonsouth east of Worcester, or an "unty tump" meaning mole hill (unty being Worcestershire dialect for amole). It is related to theWelsh languagetermTwmpathwhich was once applied to the mound or village green. From a shortlist of tumps,it can be seen that the term is used extensively in theWelsh Marchesand its use extends beyond that, toSomerset,Wiltshire,Oxfordshire,andBuckinghamshire.

See also

• Devil's Humps, Stoughton

External links

• Monument Class Description - Bowl Barrows
• British Burial Barrows: Bowl Barrows